The night wind howled as it swept across the grass - covered hillside, bringing the bone - chilling cold of late autumn.
In the past, all the disciples had studied the five arts of the mysterious sect and divined feng shui and geomancy in the academy. They had memorized the knowledge in the books thoroughly, but they had never been in such a situation before. In the dead of night, they came to this burial ground and were even going to dig up someone's grave!
"Are we... really going to dig? After all, this is digging up someone's tomb. It'll harm our good karma..." a disciple said with a trembling voice.
While the disciples in Liu Ruyan's group were still hesitating, Shen Cuiyu had taken out several shovels from Dongfang Xiao's backpack.
There were indeed many rules for the group of celestial masters. Shen Cuiyu lit three joss sticks and stood in front of the grave mound. She squatted down and observed the burning of the joss sticks for a moment.
Pei Yu's eyes fell on Shen Cuiyu. The night wind blew her black hair, and the rapidly burning bright red sparks were reflected in her deep eyes. In such a terrifying environment, he actually felt a bit of solemn divinity from her.
When the joss sticks burned to the same level, Shen Cuiyu stood up and said calmly,
"Let's start."
The shovels fell accordingly. Although Shen Cuiyu wasn't very strong, her movements were quite crisp and neat. After a few shovels, she dug out the deeper reddish - brown soil, as if a long - buried secret was suddenly glimpsed.
Seeing this, Pei Yu also picked up a shovel, came to Shen Cuiyu's side, and joined the grave - digging team. Then came Dongfang Xiao and Zhong Shengwan.
The four of them dug hard. For a moment, the only sound around seemed to be the flying dust.
"They're crazy... really crazy!" the disciples murmured.
Liu Ruyan never expected that Shen Cuiyu, a noble lady from a prominent family, would do such an outrageous thing as digging a grave in a burial ground!
Even more unexpectedly, Pei Yu would accompany her in this madness!
She was stunned for a while first, and then said contemptuously,
"An Huai was already full of resentment. Now she deliberately led us here. There might be a trick. Moreover, as the saying goes, the dead should be respected. People usually hesitate for a long time even when moving a grave. If you dig the grave rashly and anger her, won't it implicate everyone?"
She spoke with conviction, and her tone was full of the superiority of the "reincarnation of the玄女", as if a superior was scolding a junior.
The surrounding disciples were already a bit dissatisfied with Shen Cuiyu. Hearing this, they began to whisper to each other.
Seeing this, Liu Ruyan smiled proudly at Shen Cuiyu. As the saying goes, it's difficult to clap with one hand. Digging a grave wasn't an easy task. With only the four people in Shen Cuiyu's group, it would take at least half an hour. It was already the second quarter of the Ugly Hour. If they couldn't finish before dawn, this mission would surely fail.
But unexpectedly, Shen Cuiyu didn't stop her action. She just lifted her eyelids and glanced at Liu Ruyan, saying concisely,
"Those who walk between the two worlds of yin and yang defend the rights of the living and speak for the dead. The real 'respect for the dead' is not to avoid them, but to expose the truth, resolve people's disasters, and pacify the ghosts' resentment."
"If you're really so afraid of getting involved in karma, why did you come to be a celestial master?"
As her voice fell, it seemed to carry some invisible power that dispelled the hesitation in everyone's hearts.
Shen Cuiyu's words were originally meant for Liu Ruyan, but the ones who really listened were those young disciples of the mysterious sect who had been determined to become celestial masters since childhood.
The surrounding disciples looked at each other and then all went to find tools. After muttering a few words of "don't blame", they all joined the grave - digging army...
Liu Ruyan was almost furious. She never expected that her group members would really help Shen Cuiyu!
At this moment, only she stood a little farther away, watching coldly with a sneer and disbelief on her face, as if waiting for the end of a farce.
The shovels broke through the cold soil, and the dull sound was especially clear in the silent night sky. At the same time, the crows cawed from time to time, making it even more ghostly.
Zhong Shengwan shivered while digging and complained in her heart. Being a celestial master to this extent was really unheard of...
Dongfang Xiao also felt a bit creepy. While digging, he grimaced and said, "I thought Wen Zimo would bury An Huai in the Wen Mansion. It seems that he wasn't that affectionate after all. He buried her in such a desolate place..."
The soil was dug layer by layer. Suddenly, Dongfang Xiao's shovel hit something hard and made a dull sound.
He was startled and took a big step back.
"We've found it!"
Everyone was energized and gathered together, speeding up their actions.
Soon, a simple and already decaying thin coffin was revealed. The coffin wasn't even nailed shut. It was just loosely covered, as if it had been buried in a hurry.
At the same time, a strong stench of decay filled the air. Several disciples couldn't help covering their noses and retching, their faces turning pale.
Shen Cuiyu remained calm. She stepped forward and brushed the soil off the coffin. A red talisman written in cinnabar gradually appeared in front of everyone!
"This is... the Soul - Binding Talisman?!" Zhong Shengwan's expression tightened, and she couldn't help exclaiming in disbelief. "This talisman is extremely vicious. Placed on a coffin, it can prevent the soul from being reborn. It turns out that An Huai was forcibly trapped here..."
Dongfang Xiao also realized later and said, "So, An Huai wasn't willing?"
The few of them worked together to move the coffin board aside. They saw a skeleton and a pile of almost - rotten clothes lying quietly in the coffin.
An Huai had been dead for at least three years. To an ordinary person, there was nothing special to see. Shen Cuiyu turned to look at Pei Yu and nodded slightly.
Pei Yu stepped forward. His expression was unpredictable in the moonlight. He bent down without any hesitation, took out a plain handkerchief to cover his hand, and his every move exuded the calmness of an experienced official in charge of criminal cases.
He didn't need many tools like an ordinary coroner. He just stared intently.
In those peach - blossom eyes that always carried a bit of cynicism, there was now a sharp and focused light like that of a hawk, as if he could penetrate the years and decay and look directly at the truth itself.
It was completely silent around. Everyone held their breath and watched his actions. Liu Ruyan couldn't help frowning tightly and stared closely at Pei Yu.
After a while, Pei Yu stretched out his slender fingers, and through the handkerchief, gently pressed on the position between the corpse's chest and abdomen.
"These bones all show signs of old fractures that have healed. It seems that An Huai was often injured during her lifetime." His voice was deep and steady, with a coldness like that of a verdict in a criminal case.
Then, Pei Yu's fingers moved to the back of the skull. His eyes suddenly tightened:
"At the occipital bone at the back of the head, there's a one - inch depression with spider - web - like cracks. This should be the fatal injury."
He straightened up, turned his eyes to Shen Cuiyu, and said firmly,
"Judging from her death, she suffered a lot during her lifetime and was finally killed by a heavy blow to the back of the head."
Everyone was terrified, and their spines felt cold.
At the same time, not far away, the blood - red ghost shadow began to fluctuate violently, flashing on and off!
An Huai silently stared at everyone with empty eyes. However, the violent fluctuations of her soul body revealed her boundless resentment and grief!